Don’t Stop the Motoring

As a proud owner of a MINI Cooper, I was aghast to see MINI calling for a “Let’s Not Motor Day”. We had an Earth Hour where we’re supposed to turn off the lights and we’ve had a Buy Nothing Day. But those were put on by anti-consumer types; this “Let’s Not Motor Day” is akin to GE suggesting Earth Hour or Macy’s recommending Buy Nothing Day. It is disgusting to see a company selling a great product ashamed of it.

This is a blatant example of what Ayn Rand called “the sanction of the victim,” one of her most powerful insights into the modern businessman. In the name of making peace with their detractors, modern corporations will support and further their ends. Here MINI USA is seeking to curry favor with those who regard automobiles as a blight on the Earth, those who would have us confined to the range of our legs. Sadly, MINI is not alone in its complicity—examples abound of industries trumpeting their “greenness” even though it is directly contrary to their interests.

MINI requests that you make a pledge of how many miles you won’t motor on June 5th. Luckily, they don’t do a particularly good job of validating input so I was able to pledge -10 miles. It’s a small thing, to be sure, but at least I’ve registered a protest. They don’t have my sanction.

I had a similar experience with Suzuki India but they far further and wanted people not to drive once a week and instead use public transport. I met the branch GM (whose idea it was) where I had gone to get my car serviced. When I told him that it was illogical for a business to want it’s customers to use less of it’s product and that it made no sense if they thought that their cars were damaging the environment wouldn’t it make more sense to simply use public transport everyday and completely do away with the cars.
The guys reactions were quite amusing. About the environment he just said all the intellectuals can’t be wrong. This guy is from IIT.

National Security Workforce to Address ‘Intersectionality’: do you ever get the sense that you’re in a waking nightmare? Money quote from the memo: “Our greatest asset in protecting the homeland and advancing our interests abroad is the talent and diversity of our national security workforce.”

Last Week Tonight on Donald Trump: bit long, but great takedown of the Trump mythos. In a more rational political environment, this would have killed his presidential campaign. I’m not sure it’ll make any difference.

A Responsibility I Take Seriously: nominee must be “without any particular ideology or agenda” and have “a keen understanding that justice is not about abstract legal theory, nor some footnote in a dusty casebook.” I sure hope the Republicans can hold the line on his nominations.

Trigger Warnings in Annapolis: I’m not sure why I expected the service academies to be bastions of academic freedom, but I did. It’s much worse than the universities since they’re far more hierarchical.

Announcing the Twitter Trust & Safety Council: this is within their rights, of course. Given the leftist leanings of the company and its assembled Council of Goodspeech, I suspect that some groups will get a pass and some will face suppression. Chilling at any rate.